Adventures in b&w
Just another photography blog
Another portrait from the past
Another portrait of my son that I unearthed today while browsing through my archives. Picasa is a wonderful tool to index all photos and organize them. This image was shot as JPEG using one of my favorite fixed lens camera, the Panasonic LC1. No other camera I have provides this amazing contrast and razor-sharp rendering. With the more advanced GH1 and some of the best lenses available for the system (Leica 25/1.4), you still have coax the image in post-processing to get the best. Not with the LC1. In fact, my single wish is that Panasonic update the LC1 with just a more modern sensor that can do 12 Megapixels. And please keep the rendering as it is.
Post-processing of this image was done completely within Picasa. I think if you start with a really good file, the post processing application can be anything decent and you can end up with a good image. After cropping and conversion to black-and-white using the generic converter in Picasa, I applied the Holga-ish plug-in, which adds severe vignette and increased contrast. I think the effect works for this image.
The photo was shot in my room in 2010, with the plain wall as the backdrop and a single source of light from a large window.
We are the Boys!
We are the Boys, Chennai, India, 2012.
For the past two years , every time I visit India, apart from the objective of visiting friends and family and having a vacation, I also wish to capture some good pictures. Walking around the streets with a camera around your neck and trying to shoot whatever interests you is a strict ‘la’ here in Qatar. Photographing state property and people that clearly identifies them is non. So I try and quench my street-shooting thirst whenever I travel.
The above snap takes me back in time, some 25 years. Every summer I used to have two breaks, to visit relatives from my mom’s side of the family as well as my dad’s side of the family. My paternal granddad was a big influence on me. He was a very hard-working successful farmer. Every day, when I finish brushing up and the daily bath, he would give me 5 paise (a tenth of a cent). That would take care of my snack needs!! I would then meet my friends, who kept changing every passing year, and would go roaming around the few streets and the paddy fields with their numerous snaking irrigation canals.
Some days we would go fishing along the main canal. Every summer I would have to make a new fishing line with a bamboo stick connected to a nylon line with a fishing hook. The hook would cost 5 paise and had to be tied to the end of the line using a special knot that would not slip easily. Fishing used to be great fun with friends. We used to catch all types of fish, and some of the days shrimps too. The shrimps don’t eat the bait. They actually hold the bait using their tentacles and the float tied to the line would gently dip like it is vibrating. It is a great skill to catch a shrimp using a fishing line, as you have to gently lift the unsuspecting shrimp out of the water. It may ley go of the line any second and you would never see it again. Every time we catch a shrimp, a loud cheer would go and everyone would want to have a look at the catch. In general, we would catch lots of catfish and after a few days our palms would be swollen with catfish barb marks. Every evening we would split the catch and each of us would easily end up with a few kilos of fish. My grandma would never cook the local fish and would give it away to one of the housekeepers.
There are times when I would visit gramps during the Christmas break. It would be raining most days and there would be no fish in the water. We would then go hunting for lizards and snakes. There are many occasions when we would chase the snakes across paddy fields with a stick in our hand. The snakes would be terrified and slide effortlessly across the fields. We would run madly behind the snakes splashing a lot of water everywhere. Once we found a cobra trying to eat a frog. The frog was dizzy from the poison and couldn’t get away. The cobra was actually waiting for the frog. We were waiting for the cobra to finish the meal. Once the frog was in it’s belly, it couldn’t get away from us as it was sluggish with a full stomach. That was the only time we found a cobra and killed it. It was on display, hanging on a corner tree, for a few hours and the crows finished it off.
These days we live in the city and do not let the children go anywhere alone with friends. So when I saw these three kids having a ball together on the streets, I felt as if I had grown that much younger. I can’t wait to tie my own fishing line and go fishing with my friends. I know the patches along the canal-banks where the earthworms abound, rich bait for the fish. You need to dig early in the morning otherwise you just get sand. Do I realize that there are no fishes in the canals any more? In fact there is no water flowing through the canals in summer.
A Fine Balance
A few days ago I was taking a stroll on the corniche, camera in hand, and saw the Burj Qatar balancing this ramrod-thin light saber on its head! I got back to the car to get the tripod and got a clean shot after a few tries. The one building I absolutely hate on the Doha skyline is the Doha Bank Headquarters. It is a decent-looking building but the lighting is way over the top and overshadows everything else. When you want to get a good shot of the corniche, the Doha Bank always turns out with blown highlights.
It is also generally a bad idea to design your headquarters in the shape of your logo. You can’t change your logo even if you want to! If some hacker group takes your online banking site to the cleaners and you get involved in an unwanted scandal you may want to reinvent yourself with a complete coat of rebranding. No. Your past would never leave you and haunt you in the form of your headquarters!!
The solitary gull
The solitary gull, Qatar 2012
The weather has been quite chilly and windy here in Doha for the past few weeks, a welcome break from the anxiety surrounding what appeared to be an ultra-short winter. It now looks like the winter is cold all around the world. Anything but the start of the next summer! A few weeks ago it was foggy as well and this gull was chasing another solitary sailor on a Dhow in the Persian Gulf.
A New Year. A New Theme.
Up Close, Qatar 2012.
I have been using the old theme for the past year and its use has been a mixed bag. The theme looked very good but the images showed up pretty hazy initially. Later when I analyzed the problem, I realized that the theme was resizing my images and that was the root cause of the problem. I then started resizing the images manually and the images looked sharp. Only that the width was just 490px. I didn’t worry too much initially but some of the images, particularly the landscape-oriented ones, were too small to reveal details. I was postponing the transition for the fear of resizing all old images. Today I decided to upgrade the theme, without worrying too much about the older posts. One of these days I will update the blog with larger images.
The above image was shot at the Doha Trade Fair, held in the first week of January. It is an annual shopping festival where traders, predominantly from the MENA region, showcase their wares. This year saw a great influx of Chinese shops selling cheap wares at a handsome margin. The outside of the fair saw as much action as the inside, where local buyers were haggling on the price with Chinese vendors, a losing battle that doesn’t even start. I am yet to see anyone outsmart the Chinese, post-WWII, ever since Mao set up shop. The circus clowns were entertaining everyone throwing flames and walking on stilettos taller than ones found in any runway. I thought the guy was just about to fall. He was merely entertaining the official cameraman.
The Air-show in Al Khor
Landing, Qatar 2011.
Last weekend was the annual air-show weekend. The show, I guess, was not held last year. Every year pilots belonging to the Qatar Flying Club entertain visitors by performing formation flying (a little bit) as well as a few maneuvers in the sky. This year was no exception.
Take-off In the middle of nowhere, Qatar 2011.
They even took interested volunteers for a spin in the sky. This didn’t work as planned, though. Someone started registering volunteers and the numbers quickly ran into the hundreds. After half-a-day waiting and witnessing scores of people taking to the skies, we were really thrilled. Some of our friends didn’t want to fly, seeing the swaying of the planes in the sky. Then came the announcement on the PA system that the waiting list has moved to number 4!! Incredulous. Odd luck. The list was probably being processed in the reverse order and we had missed our turn. After waiting for some time we chose to move on.
The guys from the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington were fabulous. They kept the children entertained and informed on the basics of flight and robotics. The kids really enjoyed the show and were found really absorbed with the robotic kits at hand.
Next year we are planning to visit the show and try our hand in the free-fly-in. Again!
Speed
Speed, Doha 2011.
The weather for the past year has been a great disappointment. The summer was long and extremely hazy. The winter, late as it arrived, already seems like a thing of the past. The past week has seen rising temperatures and unpredictable days. Yesterday evening was one of those unpredictable ones. The day was cool but nothing extraordinary. Suddenly by about 3:30 PM a thick fog blew in from the sea and quickly engulfed the city. I got my camera kit and raced to the corniche (road on the beach) to capture a few shots of the city shrouded in the fog. I actually wanted to capture the sun’s rays bouncing off a glass-faced building as the fog thinned out. The sun was setting and the fog didn’t look like passing.
It was then, while I was waiting, that I turned my attention to the road and started shooting a few snaps of the cars that were whizzing past. I tried to pan a few shots and got lucky. This shot is that of a Honda Pilot cruising at 80 kmph (the speed limit).
Kings of Rishikesh
The King of Rishikesh, India 2009.
Rishikesh is a small town in the banks of the river Ganges. It is here that the Ganges hits the plains and tames down a little bit, if you could call it a tame river. The town is flocked by tourists who seek adventure as well as spiritual enlightenment. Adventure sports lovers enjoy white water rafting on the Ganges while those seeking inner peace flock to the Kailas Ashram, a center of Yoga. The Beatles put the town on the rock map.
The river is spanned by two suspension bridges, named Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula. Crossing the bridge is a daily task for the few thousand inhabitants of the city, but for some tourists with young kids, it is an adventure sport in itself. The bridge sways mildly from side to side to the rhythm of the motor bikes that crisscross. The monkeys tolling on the bridge perform numerous acrobatics around the steel ropes, all ending in the snatching of your favorite snack from your hand. The tourists shriek in terror and gingerly cross the bridge, all the time planning their return trip across the bridge.
Museum Visitors
A few years ago on a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, I found these two people relaxing. I viewed some of my old snaps and was wondering who they were? Are they a couple or just two weary visitors? What happened to them?
Hard at work
That’s my son hard at work trying to forge a sword from a sheet of paper! I think Panasonic made a grave mistake not improving the LC1 to a 10 megapixel shooter. Though I do not use it much, every time I shoot something, I am amazed at the quality. It never fails to bring a smile while looking at the snaps.
The shutter of the LC1 is extraordinarily silent, making the GH1 sound like a gunshot. The JPEGs out of the camera have a crisp look. I guess the lens is a true Leica. I own the Leica 25mm F/1.4 for the GH1 that is made in Japan, and it doesn’t come anywhere close to this one. Maybe the difference is that the tripods I use for the GH1 are not up to speed, or maybe my handholding technique is faulty. Overall, the LC1 is so perfectly done, that Panasonic & Leica only have to up the sensor to 10 Megapixels. Just throw in a new sensor and update the circuitry. I guess the processors have more than quadrupled in speed to make this a trivial.
The snap has a grainy look because I pushed the ISO to 400 by underexposing by two stops at ISO 100. Not really necessary, but I was just lazy to wade into the menu to change the ISO.
As I was writing this post, I felt compelled to shoot another snap. I shot this requesting my son to stand next to the window. This has now become my standard technique. Ask someone to stand facing the light from a window, ensuring that the sun is not directly outside Then, shoot!!
Conversion to B&W is using Lightroom.
